A gas company receiving millions of dollars in taxpayer-funded grants to advance its interests in the Beetaloo Basin could face a significant fine for failing to appear at an inquiry into the controversial grants program.
Sweetpea Petroleum, a subsidiary of Tamboran Resources, was awarded $7.5 million earlier this year under the program subsidising exploration wells in the gas-rich region south-east of Darwin.
The handouts are currently being scrutinised by the federal senate's environment and communications committee, which handed down an inquiry progress report on Thursday.
It revealed the committee had begun moving to refer the company to an in-house parliamentary watchdog called the Senate Privileges Committee to investigate whether it was in contempt of the Senate when it failed to appear at a hearing it had been summoned to.
If a contempt finding is made, the company could be fined up to $25,000.
Committee chair and Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young said the no-show meant parliamentarians could not probe the company about its dealings with stakeholders and environmental approvals.
"If you're a private company and you put your hand out for public money, you accept that that means you are now having to be accountable and up-front and transparent with the Australian people," she said.
"This company has thumbed its nose at the Senate and therefore thumbed its nose at the Australian people."
An earlier interim report published by the committee said Sweetpea declined multiple invitations to attend hearings, with Tamboran CEO Joel Riddle reportedly saying the company was "absolutely entitled not to appear if we wish".
The committee then issued an order for the company to appear at a hearing in Canberra on March 25, but it wrote that it did not receive a response.
Labor senators have labelled Tamboran's absence "highly unsatisfactory" and also voiced concerns about the willingness of key government frontbenchers to hand over relevant documents.
"Collectively, the failure of the federal government, the ministers and this private company to provide adequate information across the course of the inquiry in various respects results in the public's faith in the spending of public money, and ultimately in the process for the exploration of the Beetaloo Basin, being undermined," they wrote in the progress report
Senator Hanson-Young said contempt of the senate findings was "very rare" but carried potentially serious penalties.
Tamboran has been contacted for comment.
The $50 million grants program is one element in a broader plan to accelerate development of the Beetaloo Basin, which has a starring role in the government's "gas-led recovery" from COVID-19.
But the subsidies have sparked outrage among green groups worried about the resource's potential to drastically increase Australia's carbon emissions if it is developed.
The first three grants awarded under the program, issued to Imperial Oil and Gas and worth $21 million, were the subject of a legal challenge launched by environmentalists that made it to the Federal Court late last year.
The court found the program was valid but voided the grants because of the government's conduct while the challenge was underway.
The federal government has since reissued the grants.
The committee is expected to hand down its final report on the program in August after an extension to its April deadline.
